What Treatment Should I Be Offered
The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence writes guidance on what treatment doctors should offer you. But your doctor does not have to give you these treatments. And the treatments may not be available in your area.
Different treatments may be available in your area. Your doctor might think these suit your symptoms more than the recommended treatments.
NICE recommend that depression is treated in different steps depending on how severe the condition is for you. The steps are as follows.
Step 1: Everyone who may have depression
Your doctor should offer you:
- an assessment of your symptoms,
- support, such as regular appointments in person or by telephone,
- information on how to deal with your symptoms,
- monitoring of your symptoms and follow-up, and
- referral for further assessment and treatment if needed.
Step 2: Mild to moderate depression
Your doctor may offer you:
- low-intensity interventions, such as self-help guided by the doctor or computerised cognitive behavioural therapy ,
- physical activity programmes,
- group cognitive behavioural therapy ,
- medication if you have a history of moderate or severe depression, or you have had symptoms for a long time, and
- referral for further assessment and treatment if needed.
Step 3: Moderate to severe depression, or mild to moderate depression when other treatments havent worked
Your doctor may suggest:
Step 4: Severe and complex depression or if your life is at risk Your doctor may suggest:
What Risks And Complications Can Depression Cause
Having depression can cause other problems. It can affect your mental health as well as your physical health, and it may affect other areas of your life too. For example, depression may cause:
- disturbed sleep,
- difficulties with work and your hobbies,
- difficulties keeping contact with friends and families, or
- suicidal thoughts or thoughts of self-harming.
Some people might also drink more alcohol to try and relieve depression. However, as we said in the previous section above, this can actually make depression worse.
If you have any of these problems, speak to your GP.
Taking Care Of Yourself
Lastly, its important to make sure that youre taking care of yourself. It can be emotionally and physically exhausting to be a parent of someone who is struggling with depression. Know that you are not alone, and get support for yourself. Make sure that you make time to do things you enjoy and go out with friends. The phrase: happy mommy = happy baby still applies!
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Ways To Manage Your Symptoms
Treating your underlying condition will go a long way toward helping you resolve your issues with waking up. Whatever the cause, it will help to practice good sleep habits:
- Follow a schedule: Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day to help control your body clock.
- Avoid caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine: These can disrupt your sleep.
- Limit naps: Long naps in the daytime may make it hard to fall asleep at night. If you do need a catnap, donât rest for longer than 30 minutes, and donât snooze late in the day.
- Exercise: Daily physical activity can boost energy and might also help you sleep better. But donât overdo it too close to bedtime.
- Make your room sleep-friendly: Too much light or noise might make it hard to fall asleep. Use shades, earplugs, or a white noise machine to create a comfy place to sleep. Also, make sure your bedroom is cool. Between 60 and 67 degrees is ideal.
- Stay away from screens: Using tablets, phones, TVs, laptops, and other gadgets before bed can throw off your bodyâs clock. This can make it harder to go to sleep. Try to ditch the devices at least 30 minutes before bed.
Certain medicines or other therapies can also help you get a better nightâs rest.
Itâs important to see your doctor if you think you have dysania, or any sleep problem, so you can get the help you need.
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Impact Of Doing Nothing
Suppose all you feel like doing is lying on the couch and watching Netflix rather than going outside and living more often than not. Or maybe even doing basic daily tasks like washing dishes making the bed or tidying your room seem like too much to accept. In that case, there may be an underlying mental health condition negatively affecting you. These feelings can be situational, such as if you experienced a break-up or are sick. They can also be more long-term in the form of depression, where those feelings of low mood, hopelessness, and sadness creep up.
Do you feel drained of emotional and physical energy? Or maybe you dont feel like doing anything? Is it hard to get out of bed? Once you’ve started the day, are you fighting to get things done? What if it goes beyond these moments and you have no motivation to do anything? These are awful feelings and signal a lot of stress, and you don’t have to be alone without any help by your side. There are successful tools to help you find and develop your sense of motivation and start living again.
What You Can Do
First, you may want to visit your primary care doctor, especially if these feelings are unusual for you or have lasted much of the time for days or for a few weeks Your doctor will be able to perform some diagnostic testing and blood work on you to rule out an underlying health issue to get to the root cause of what’s causing these unmotivated thoughts and feelings.
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How Can I Help Myself If I Am Depressed
Other things that may help include:
- Spending time with other people and talking with a friend or relative about your feelings
- Increasing your level of physical activity. Regular exercise can help people with mild to moderate depression and may be one part of a treatment plan for those with severe depression. Talk with your health care professional about what kind of exercise is right for you.
- Breaking up large tasks into small ones, and tackling what you can as you can. Don’t try to do too many things at once
- Delaying important decisions until you feel better. Discuss decisions with others who know you well.
- Keeping stable daily routines. For example, eating and going to bed at the same time every day.
- Avoiding alcohol
As you continue treatment, gradually you will start to feel better. Remember that if you are taking an antidepressant, it may take several weeks for it to start working. Try to do things that you used to enjoy before you had depression. Go easy on yourself.
When To Seek Professional Help
Any level of depression should be taken seriously and the faster you address the symptoms, the less likely you are to develop a more severe type of depression. Seeking professional help is a sign of bravery and self-respect because it shows that you are dedicated to caring for your mind and body. A therapist can offer more clinical advice and guide you through treatment with approaches that are more tailored to your specific situation and needs. However, if you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, tell someone you trust and seek assistance immediately.
Everyone experiences low points in their life and their mental health, but depression is a treatable mental illness and you can recover. Whether you or a loved one is feeling depressed, every persons experience with mental illness is different but help is available. Visit our Key Services page to learn more about the treatment methods we offer and to explore our list of additional health and wellness classes to support your overall mental health.
If you are in a crisis, please call us at 303-425-0300 or by calling the crisis line at 844-493-8255. The 24/7 crisis walk-in center and withdrawal management program is open at 4643 Wadsworth Blvd, Wheat Ridge, CO 80033.
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How To Tell If You Have Depression
Depression affects people in different ways and can cause a wide variety of symptoms.
They range from lasting feelings of unhappiness and hopelessness, to losing interest in the things you used to enjoy and feeling very tearful. Many people with depression also have symptoms of anxiety.
There can be physical symptoms too, such as feeling constantly tired, sleeping badly, having no appetite or sex drive, and various aches and pains.
The symptoms of depression range from mild to severe. At its mildest, you may simply feel persistently low in spirit, while severe depression can make you feel suicidal, that life is no longer worth living.
Most people experience feelings of stress, anxiety or low mood during difficult times. A low mood may improve after a short period of time, rather than being a sign of depression.
Depression: What You Need To Know As You Age
If youre one of the more than 14.8 million American adults who experiences major depression, you may feel so bad that you cant get out of bed, be around the people you love or participate in activities that you usually enjoy. Actually, there are more than 50 different symptoms of major depression, ranging from the well-knowncrying and sadnessto those you might never associate with depression, such as anger, workaholism and back pain.
Depression is a disease that affects every aspect of a persons life, not just mood, says Johns Hopkins expert Andrew Angelino, M.D., Chair of Psychiatry at Howard County General Hospital. The World Health Organization predicts that by 2020, depression will be the second-leading cause of disability in the world, just behind cardiovascular disease.
People who are depressed are far more likely to have other chronic medical conditions, including cardiovascular disease, back problems, arthritis, diabetes, and high blood pressure, and to have worse outcomes. Untreated depression can even affect your immune response to some vaccines.
Depression is not just debilitating it can be deadly. An estimated one out of five people with depression will attempt suicide at some point.
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How Should I Reheat My Leftover Rice
If you are planning on reheating your rice, ensure that the rice comes out of the microwave or off the stove top steaming hot with an internal temperature of 165 Fahrenheit or higher. And the next time you’re craving rice, limit the amount you make to what you and your dinner companions plan on eating that day. This also helps to prevent food waste, alongside the benefits of avoiding food poisoning.
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What Are The Symptoms Of Depression And How Is It Diagnosed
The NHS recommends that you should see your GP if you experience symptoms of depression for most of the day, every day, for more than 2 weeks.
Doctors make decisions about diagnosis based on manuals. The manual used by NHS doctors is the International Classification of Diseases .
When you see a doctor they will look for the symptoms that are set out in the ICD-10 guidance. You do not have to have all of these to be diagnosed with depression. You might have just experience some of them.
Some symptoms of depression are:
- low mood, feeling sad, irritable or angry,
- having less energy to do certain things,
- losing interest or enjoyment in activities you used to enjoy,
- reduced concentration,
You may also find that with low mood you:
- feel less pleasure from things,
- feel more agitated,
- find your thoughts and movements slow down, and
- have thoughts of self-harm or suicide.
Your doctor should also ask about any possible causes of depression. For example, they may want to find out if youve experienced anything traumatic recently which could be making you feel this way.
There are no physical tests for depression. But the doctors may do some tests to check if you have any physical problems. For example, an underactive thyroid can cause depression.
On the NHS website, they have a self-assessment test which can help you to assess whether you are living with depression: www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/clinical-depression/overview/
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What Are The Different Types Of Depression
You might have heard a number of terms used to describe depression. In this section, we explain what some of these terms mean.
What is clinical depression?
Clinical depression is a common term, but it is not a formal diagnosis. People sometimes say clinical diagnosis to just mean they have been diagnosed by a doctor.
What is a depressive episode?
Your doctor might say that you are going through a ‘depressive episode’. This is the formal name that doctors give depression when they make a diagnosis. They may say that you are going through a ‘mild’, ‘moderate’ or ‘severe’ episode.
What is recurrent depressive disorder?
If you have had repeated episodes of depression, your doctor might say that you have recurrent depressive disorder. They may say that your current episode is ‘mild’, ‘moderate’ or ‘severe’.
What is reactive depression?
If your doctor thinks that your episode of depression was caused by particular stressful events in your life, they may say that it is reactive. For example, divorce, job or money worries. This is sometimes separated from an adjustment disorder, where you may struggle with some symptoms of depression because of adapting to a major change in your life. Such as separation from people, retirement or migrating to a new area.
What is a severe depressive episode with psychotic symptoms?
You can find more information about Psychosis by clicking here.
What is dysthymia?
What is cyclothymia?
What is postnatal depression?
What is manic depression?
Limit Use Of Electronics Starting At Night
Our electronic devices have become one of our main windows to the world and to each other. When our brains become used to reward cues coming mainly from our phones and computers, it can dull our ability to feel enjoyment from non-electronic experiences, Felger says.
Felger says to slowly reduce your electronic use in the hours leading up to bedtime, so you can reap some of the benefits to support sleep as well.
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Consider Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a non-invasive procedure that stimulates nerve cells in the brain with short magnetic pulses. A large electromagnetic coil is placed against the scalp which generates focused pulses that pass through the skull and stimulate the cerebral cortex of the brain, a region that regulates mood. The procedure was approved by the FDA in 2008. In September, I featured a story about Stephanie, a woman in Project Beyond Blue, who underwent 30 sessions of TMS and was transformed into a new person. She now moderates a group on Project Beyond Blue called Exploring TMS. Several other people I know have had success as well.
Dont Think You Know Better
Its natural to want to advise your loved one or even push them to do something you believe is good for them.
In reality, depression often requires support from a mental health professional. However, its important that the decision to reach out for help comes from the person living with depression.
Pressuring them to socialize or do something when they dont feel like it may lead them to withdraw from you. Again, its not personal. But they may not be ready to take the step youve set up for them.
You may want to meet them where they are, instead.
It is best to learn everything you can about depression and listen more than you speak, Ryland says.
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Other Ways To Help Include:
- Offering him support, understanding, patience, and encouragement
- Listening carefully and talking with him
- Never ignoring comments about suicide, and alerting his therapist or doctor
- Helping him increase his level of physical and social activity by inviting him out for hikes, games, and other events. If he says, no, keep trying, but don’t push him to take on too much too soon.
- Encouraging him to report any concerns about medications to his health care provider
- Ensuring that he gets to his doctor’s appointments
- Reminding him that with time and treatment, the depression will lift
Keep Your Plans Realistic
Social situations like parties and other get-togethers can sometimes add to negative feelings or even social anxiety. Depending on your situation, you may have invitations to parties with friends, work, church and other social groups. Or you may have no invitations at all. Your self-worth isn’t dependent on the number of events you attend. Accept only the invitations you wish to accept and avoid overscheduling.
Sometimes the unrealistic expectations are those we set for others. Then, if they don’t quite muster up, we feel disappointed. Remember to avoid setting expectations for others.
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Our Stressful World Isn’t Helping
Add to this the amplification of the brain’s threat circuit, which scans for things to avoid. “Now that we have so many fearful and emotional things going on in the world, the brain is responding more and more to threats and less and less to things that are rewarding, just based on what we’re exposed to,” Felger says. The reward circuit and threat circuit are constantly running in our brain, she adds, but when one is used more and takes up more brain energy, the other ends up running less efficiently.
Lean On Your Family And Friends
Spending time with people you enjoy can be a wonderful mood booster. Being in the company of those we love can increase our feelings of acceptance, comfort and security. If you’re feeling down, it’s OK to talk with your loved ones about it so they can give you the support you need. If they know what’s going on with you, they can be a better support system.
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